Self-driving cars available this decade, automaker promises

Google has been letting its autonomous Toyota Prius test drive itself on roads in Nevada and more recently Washington, D.C., but now General Motors has announced its intent to enter the hypothetical self-driving car market by the end of the decade. Representatives from the Michigan based automaker have stated that most of the technology required for self driving cars currently exists in modern General Motors automobiles. High tech safety features such as lane departure warning, blind spot recognition, and collision prevention systems all require camera and radar systems that could be modified to allow future car models to control themselves. Currently, the carmaker is developing a self driving automobile based on its Cadillac line of vehicles. The system used to control this Cadillac is called super cruise, and GM representatives say it will allow the car to steer, brake, and correct its course to remain in the center of a lane automatically with no additional input from the driver under ideal road conditions. The super cruise feature might be available within the next three years, the company has announced. General Motors representatives added, however, that legislators will need to pass new safety guidelines to regulate the usage of vehicles equipped with this feature. Self driving cars would also need to communicate with other cars sharing the road in order to avoid collisions, and this automakers would need to ensure the security of this car to car network, the carmaker’s spokesperson continued.